Featured Conversation: Talking with Illustrator Nicole Rifkin

Published on Jan 30, 2025

Tell me a little bit about yourself

I’m Nicole Rifkin. I’m an illustrator. I’m also an avid record collector. It’s hurled me into debt in such phenomenal ways, but I truly love it. I have over 1,800 LPs, and I have over 2,000 45s. I have a room in my house dedicated to it but I’m moving out next month. As you know, divorce is fun (laughs), but at least I get all my stuff back, which is pretty cool. We were together for seven years, so we accrued a lot of stuff, and it’s the main point of not contention. But I guess the thing we’re having the most conversations about is the record collection, and that’s because we were both extreme collectors. We would travel around the United States to go to different stores, like, I think the furthest we went was Denver, Colorado.

That sounds like a fun way to travel.

It was a good excuse to travel, I think, just to have, not necessarily people you’re seeing, because I know people now in Denver that I’m friends with online, that I could probably hit up and be like, Hey, what’s up? Let’s hang out, but we’d probably go to a record store. What about you? How did you get into record collecting?

Well, I grew up in the era of records, so that was my thing. It was the media that was available to us at the time. I didn’t really get started in earnest until I started working at the record store. I mean, I had records, but when I started working in the record store, I went nuts. That’s how I built up my collection. I still have a lot of those stuff from the 80s, a lot of my albums, but I also got rid of a lot of albums later on for room when I moved to an apartment. I lost some in the divorce, you know, so I’m recollecting.

I’m losing all my Bowie, I think that’s tough, pretty catastrophic, but talk about things you lost in the divorce. You know? I can lose any furniture, clothes, whatever, but records, oh no. I got to keep my bootlegs. So I collect a lot of Bowie bootlegs. There’s a huge community that is still going, of people who collect the bootlegs, and they’re strange and beautiful. But I was the one that was like, I gotta get this boot, and my ex was not super keen on it, because the recording quality isn’t awesome. You can’t really listen to them. They’re just more to own, right? I’m a completist. I like to complete my collection. And Bowie had such a huge cult of personality that it was interesting to hear people talk about him while he’s on stage. And there’s a lot of radio broadcasts where people are like, having conversations in front of the radio, and it’s on the bootleg, and it’s just really cool.

What a cool thing to have.

I started collecting when I was 13. My dad is an avid collector as well, and with my bat mitzvah money, he was like, we’re getting you a turntable. We’re gonna take you. I grew up in Gainesville, Florida. I’m Canadian, but we moved there when I was 10, and that was weird. My dad’s a doctor and a punk, which is a strange combination, but it is what it is. And he currently has over 3,000 records in his collection, and he keeps saying to me, Oh, you get them all when I’m gone and I’m like, we have a lot of the same records. My dad reads Pitchfork still, even after the GQ thing, I still do too, yeah, it’s hard to break that habit. It’s almost religious in its own way. And my partner, also, they read it as well, so we talk about it every week. It’s cute, but my dad is huge on music. He started out with the Jam, that was, that was his band, And he followed Paul Weller around for the last 15 years with the solo stuff. So a lot of my dad’s collection is mod oriented and punk oriented and reggae and stuff like that. And mine’s definitely more post punk, SST era, 90s, 80s, punk and hardcore, but that’s where my dad and I deviated. He actually got me that Dayglo Abortions poster.

Oh, that is very cool.

it’s actually a really good thing to have up if you’re dating someone and they’re like, that’s really fucked up. And you’re like, Yes, you did not pass the vibe test. You failed pretty badly. But my dad got me that. So when I was 13, he was taking me to record stores every week just to get the dollar records and stuff. And I’m picking up, like Donovan, and I still own all my records from back then, and I was getting them based on the album art for the most part. That’s really how I got into being an illustrator. It was album art.

Oh, that’s interesting. So what’s some of your favorite album art?

What a question. Well, I think recently, I think the one that sticks with me is a Rolling Stones compilation that came out on Record Store Day. I think in 2022 2023 the Hot Rocks collection. It’s a photographic cover, but it’s all their profiles going in and out. It’s really beautiful. And that’s really stuck with me. I think the obvious ones would be Goo, the Raymond Pettibon cover for Sonic Youth.

[Dinosaur Jr.’s] You’re Living All Over Me is a big album cover for me. It’s like, you can fall in love with any album art, it’s not necessarily only the illustrative ones that I’m into, even though I’m an illustrator, it’s really the music that influences me. I’d say, like, New Day Rising by Hüsker Dü is a beautiful record cover. Even Candy Apple Gray is weird and cool and, yeah, Flip Your Wig. Do you have any?

I’m not really an album art person. I was when I was younger, and I used to hang album art up, but there was more the vibe of the album than the art itself. The thing we did in high school was we used to get album art on our denim jackets. We had a friend who was an artist, and he made a living in high school painting our denim jackets. So I had three denim jackets with Yes albums on them.

Ooh, that’s awesome. I had a Dead Moon jacket, leather with the Dead Moon logo on it. Oh, the Swans. But before everything about [Michael] Gira came out, and now I can’t wear this jacket, which is unfortunate. I still do love Swans. I do have the capacity to be media literate, but it’s hard to walk around with a jacket with that on, because people will stop you and be like, Hey, did you hear about Gira? And I’m like, Yes, I’m 33 years old. I have ears and a heart.

That’s like how I don’t wear my Brand New sweatshirt around town anymore.

I was never really into Brand New. I think I missed that boat. I missed the boat on emo, pretty hard, and I’m cool with it. I’m sad enough. I love ska, though. I grew up in Florida. It’s kind of an inevitability to love ska.

I don’t trust people who don’t like ska [laughs].

Oh yeah, that’s a really good litmus test. I know ska’s been co-opted by white boys, but the roots and dance hall and stuff, yeah, it’s like, you gotta be a little bit aware of where music comes from. And that’s something my dad taught me for sure. Know your history, Know what you’re into and why. He’s 64 - we share a birthday. So I’m 33, he’s 64 and he’s still going to shows.

When I was younger, I only got along with people who were significantly older than me. Like, in their 30s when I was 19. So when I was 19, I was working at a bar in Gainesville called 1982 which was an all ages venue. It makes sense, because I was 19, but all the people I was hanging out with were like, hey, you should listen to Sonic Youth. And I was like uh, my dad likes them. I have a shirt that he gave me from 1991 of the Goo tour, because he went, and I’ve cherished it all this time, and it’s falling apart. But at that time, I started working at a record store too, and it’s called Hear Again, in Gainesville, Florida, and it’s a wonderful place. It’s one of the only Sub Pop distros in North Central Florida. If you want a Beach House record, you go there. You just start to spend your entire paycheck on all your records, your habit. That’s kind of why I went to grad school. This isn’t advantageous for my wallet to keep buying all these records. I bought the Polvo Celebrate the New Dark Age reissue for Merge when it came out, and it was like $40 but it is my favorite packaging on any record ever.

It’s worth it to spend the money when you get enjoyment out of it like that, for sure.

And it influenced me. I do a lot of album art. I took a little bit of a break during the divorce, because my ex is a musician, and I was like, I’ve gotta divorce myself from the scene a little bit. I got pretty integrated in music Twitter, because I am a big fan of music and I follow it like sports, but I’m getting back into doing art. I did a Remember Sports LP in 2021 that was pretty labor intensive, and it won a bunch of awards. And I was like, hmm, perhaps I can make a career out of this. I don’t know why, but the Polvo record Celebrate the New Dark Age is a reissue of the 45 that they originally did that is like a 360 wrap of the record. It’s a clam shell, and it is embossed and silk screened, and it uses metallic ink as well. I love Merge. I’ve worked with Merge on a Titus Andronicus record, and working with them was like a beautiful, well oiled machine. Daniel, who is their creative director, is just like a machine he is putting out Fucked Up 45s every few months. That’s something I collect, and it’s really cool to talk to him about. I own every single one, which is insane. I’m aware of that. I’ve gone to Toronto a few times just to go record shopping, to get Fucked Up 45s and I happened to get to do a 45 design for them, which is really cool. And again, got to work with Daniel, who was nominated for his Neutral Milk Hotel packaging for a Grammy. Did you see the 45 box set?

A lot of times I’ll hear about something coming out, and I won’t look because I know it’s something I can’t afford and that I want to buy it anyhow.

Every Matador Pavement reissue I’m just like, you’re killing me. I got the Terror Twilight reissue because I love that album. I think that’s my favorite Pavement record ever. It meant a lot to me in college, and he redid the track order and I got really mad, because it felt revisionist, but I get why it was a bone of contention for the band.

I really hate the last song on the record. I get why it didn’t go over well with people, because it’s such a dark, textural record, and then you end on this happy, weird note, and it’s like something was amiss. But I’ve also been able, and lucky enough to work with Pavement a few times, and that was huge for me. And I got a text from Bob Nastanovich from France, and he was like, are you down to do a poster? And I was like, I’m gonna shit myself. You’re Bob Nastanovich. I’m just some asshole who tweeted at you and I collect all your records, and I have a “Gold Soundz” tattoo and a “Range Life” tattoo. Am I the crazy one? Are you the crazy one?

Tell me about your 45 collection.

So I collect any type of 45s. Flexi, lathe, whatever. I first started doing it to collect SST 45s, because I think SST is insane. My dad used to be on the mailing list when I was younger. So we have all the Dinosaur Jr. stuff and Sonic Youth. I just couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that when I was a baby, he was getting this in the mail. And so whenever I go to a record store, I look for SST records, because they went from alt and hardcore to jazz. For some reason it was a very strange transition. And I collect them all. I collect the Fucked Up 45s. I have their logo tattooed on my thigh, which is something I got when I was 18, and Damien means a lot to me as a front person, because he’s a large presence, and as a large presence everywhere I go, it meant a lot to me for to see a show, to see a band, where he goes out in the crowd and he’s like, I’m taking up this fucking space, and no one can stop me. And it really influenced me to just take up space and not give a shit. So Fucked Up gets to take up an entire crate for me. I own every record by them. I own every 45 and I’m going to continue collecting until they break up, which I’ve heard tales that they have it planned out already because they do a Zodiac series with the numerical value on it. Apparently they’ve dictated when they’re going to break up. But who knows? I don’t know if that’s something I was told when I was younger, and I believed thoroughly. I’m incredibly gullible, but I still think they have a lot planned, which I love. They have a whole internal narrative that I really respond to, because I got my master’s degree in narrative illustration, and I love telling stories, not my own, other people’s, which is kind of why I got into doing album art. Because even if a band is just writing an isolated song that’s about a girl not liking them, or whatever, in context of a record, it tells a story in a period of someone’s life. And I think that as an illustrator, as a visual artist, whatever you are, representing that time in their life with a single image, that’s a narrative. And with Fucked Up, it’s just such beautiful language that they use to tell a story like David Comes to Life is a great record. It’s a great story. When I was younger, I really loved Tommy, so I loved Quadrophenia and stuff like that, records that tell a story. My dad is big on the Who, and he’s a mod. It’s kind of, yeah, it’s par for the course, with a mod to like Quadrophenia.

Fucke Up is a pretty big band now, I think, and they’re still doing stuff that a small band would do with 45s. And I just love that. I love collecting, like they’re catering to collectors. And also the art’s really cool and they’re hiring people like me to do a drawing. I’m like, Oh, you just like art. That’s so cool. You just want to tell your story.

Art and music are perfect storytelling. It all goes together.

It’s a universal language. You know, like some people can’t understand English, some people are blind. You can’t see what I’m drawing, but you can hear the music. Or conversely, you can see but you can’t hear. So ideally, whatever you’re using to represent what you’re trying to say can be communicated to everyone. And I think that in that form of media, like records, are a way to communicate with everyone, because you’re combining all these different mediums. I think it’s cool. I love it, and also I like how they look in my house. I want to be like Questlove. Every interview he does he’s sitting in front of his record collection. I want that in my life. I want to have a record room.

Do you have a favorite record store?

Electric Eye in Massachusetts. It’s in Western Mass,The guy that runs that place is really cool. And he always has the most bizarre recommendations for me. I think Massachusetts has my favorite record shops. It also has Armageddon shop. And in Boston, they have, like, a beautiful selection of punk 45s that I really adore and can’t afford. But, it’s fun to look at, but it’s so difficult to let them stay at the store. Bric-a-Brac in Chicago is cool. Oh, and Criminal Records in Atlanta is really, really cool. And Wuxtry in Athens because, you know, that’s where Michael Stipe worked, so like I felt the need to make the pilgrimage. Celebrated Summer here in Baltimore is phenomenal. They have a cassette vending machine that I accidentally made go viral on twitter. Which was haunting, because I bought a Wipers cassette because I didn’t own it. And it’s fun.They had all this padding at the bottom to make sure it doesn’t break. Because, you know, cassette tapes, if you look at them the wrong way, they’re going to break. And which is something that vinyl doesn’t do, at least, right? And I’m like, new here. I’m new in town. And you know, it’s really nice and comforting to find your home base record store.

What is your prized possession as far as albums go?

The Dinosaur Jr. record before they were Dinosaur Jr.,, when it was just Dinosaur. I have that.

Someone else I interviewed talked about that album.

Yeah, it’s important to me. I used to do vinyl DJ nights. I would put on Filth by Swans to get people to leave the bar. Like, I thought it was really funny. And then the original drummer for Against Me, Warren, came up to me once, and was like, you need to stop doing that. Stop scaring people with Swans. This is an outdoor bar. People just hang out and I want to go to bed. So I’m putting on Filth every time. And people are like, Oh, she’s doing it again. Oh, that’s so funny. I put on that record I own, because you bring your crate to DJ and stuff, and I brought the Dinosaur record. My friend Caleb, he worked at a record store that I loved, and he came running. He was like, can’t play that record, it’s too precious. And I’m like, man, it’s 20 years old now. I’m gonna play this record. It’s been well loved. You know, I’m not, it’s not very good anymore. You know, it’s not mint, it’s my record, and I listen to it. It’s just like comic books for me. I’m reading them, I’m listening to them. That’s my prized possession. And a test press of Year of the Ox by Fucked Up.

Do you have any record that says “white whale” to you, something you’ve been on the lookout for?

For a long time, I did. I finally got it. It took me five years to find it. Was the Krill EP about Pile with. It’s a 10 inch wherein they talk about emailing Rick from Pile and asking to play a show with them. And Rick says, Oh, we’re really busy this summer. We can’t and then Jonah talks about how they released a new record, and there’s not a stinker on it. And I was like, That’s my white whale. I’m going to find it. I harassed Dan Goldin about it for years. I was like, if you ever find a copy of it, let me know. And he’s like, Nicole, you need to, like, stop asking me. And I found it Long in the Tooth in Philly. And I remember hearing angels, and being like, it’s over,. And I was looking for the wrong record the whole time. It was a 10 inch, and I was looking for a 12 inch the time. I could have done a little bit of research instead of just looking for the album art. But I just remember that being a really significant moment for me in Philadelphia, and then immediately becoming disabled. Sorry, it’s a little funny. I was in a car accident because I went to Sit and Spin in Philly. We were on the highway coming back, and I got hit by a car, and I had a spine injury. I was sitting in the hospital, like, kind of worth it, you know, a little bit worth it, because I got the record I’ve always been looking for, and I’m happy, but now I’m permanently disabled [laughs].

It’s funny now, you know, yeah, sure, it was a little bit funny then as well, which is a little fucked up or whatever, um, but yeah, that, that was my white whale. I think after the divorce, my white whale searching has been put on pause because I’m figuring my shit out. But for real, anything by Osees that is original to Castle Face, where it’s very early. They did most sets with like, Burger Records, which I’m like against, obviously for, because they’re all shitty and stuff, but they did a flexi pamphlet with them that I’m looking for, and I’d love to find one day. I love them. I herniated a disc in my spine at one of their shows. I was dancing too hard. And my ex was like, we’ll never go to one of the shows again. And I’m like, why? Just because I danced too hard. I had a great time. I’m just broken. I just love music. I’m taking a painkiller afterwards, like that was worth it. And everyone’s always, you’re insane. I walk with a cane. Oh god, I went to see Stereolab once. Stereolab’s one of my favorite bands. If I could get my hands on one of their original, like home screen printed albums, I would lose my shit, but someone kicked my cane out from underneath me so hard that I toppled over, and I was like, it glows in the dark. My cane glows in the dark. You did this on purpose at this point. There’s no space for disabilities in DIY or in music, and I think that’s why I talk about it a lot, is to reclaim some of that space. Able bodied people have forgotten that it can happen for them too. Yeah, at any point in time, you never know, but collecting records got me through the worst of my injury and just having something to hold on to, to anchor me to who I used to be before it was so important to me. And I’m getting them back next month, and it feels like a piece of me is coming home and I can finally move forward. And I’m really excited to move on with that chapter of my life.

It’d be a great way to do it, to have your records back and feel like you’re home again.

Yeah, the delineation between me and the records is non-existent. You know, there’s a France Gall lyric that I have tattooed on me because I’m a millennial, and it’s in script on my rib. It’s classic. My records are a mirror through which everyone can see me. And that’s great. Yeah, I, I always thought that that was accurate to me, that the records that I love can explain who I am as an individual, so getting them back is huge. I know you know that feeling where you get to keep or you get to get stuff back, it’s important. It’s monumental. And getting my 45s back, I met so many people because of my obsession with collecting records, with music, and my life is so much richer because of it. I’m poor, but my life is very, very full.

Nicole Rifkin (they/she) is an award-winning illustrator from Baltimore, MD. Their work has appeared on the cover of the New Yorker multiple times, and her visual storytelling has augmented pieces published by everyone from The Atlantic to Wired. Nicole’s art style has soundtracked music from Bethlehem Steel, Titus Andronicus, and several others—not to mention a stuffed portfolio of live show posters. Mx. Rifkin’s accolades include a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators, kudos from American Illustration and Creative Quarterly, and a devilishly funny online presence. They earned their MFA in Illustration from NYC’s School of Visual Arts and graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in Communications Design. When not sleeping, thinking about the Criterion Collection, or collecting kitschy Elvis heads, Nicole can be found listening to music: most likely the band Pile.

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